White House limits AP access to Oval Office, Air Force One indefinitely

The White House says it will limit Associated Press journalists' access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, an escalation of a brooding conflict between the Trump administration and the wire service this week.

"The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America," White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote in a post Friday on the social platform X.

"This decision is not just divisive, but it also exposes the Associated Press' commitment to misinformation. While their right to irresponsible and dishonest reporting is protected by the First Amendment, it does not ensure their privilege of unfettered access to limited spaces, like the Oval Office and Air Force One," the spokesperson added.

Budowich said going forward the Oval Office and Air Force One "will now be opened up to the many thousands of reporters who have been barred from covering these intimate areas of the administration."

AP journalists and photographers will retain their credentials to the White House complex, the spokesperson added.

The Hill has reached out to the AP for comment.

Following the latest White House announcement, an AP journalist was blocked from attending an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Friday afternoon. 

The reporter was attempting to join the small group of journalists allowed to cover the event on behalf of the broader White House press corps.

"No, sorry," a White House official said when the reporter attempted to join for the event, according to a reporter who was with the small group of journalists.

The announcement comes after the White House this week barred the AP from covering a number of White House events over its refusal to change its style on the Gulf of Mexico to reflect President Trump's name for it: the Gulf of America.

In a statement after the AP was first barred from covering an executive order signing in the Oval Office on Tuesday, the wire service called it "alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism.”

The White House Correspondents' Association condemned the administration for a second time after AP reporters were barred from a press conference involving Trump and India's prime minister Thursday.

The feud stems from a Jan. 23 guidance from the AP on Trump’s executive order regarding the Gulf, in which the outlet said it would refer to the body of water long called the Gulf of Mexico “by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday defended the initial decision to keep the AP out of the Oval Office, saying it is a “privilege to cover the White House" and the administration reserves the right to keep certain outlets out of White House spaces “If we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room." 

Updated at 2:33 p.m. EST